Please help me track down my £37,700. In November 2023, ill health forced me to wind up my limited company and revert the business to sole-trader. My bank, Lloyds, duly changed my business account and sent a new debit card.
Last February, companies I pay by direct debit complained of non-payment, and I could no longer access my account online. I then discovered it had been blocked. Lloyds admitted an error, promised to unblock it, and sent another card.
Then it closed the account altogether, along with an associated higher-interest account.
I was informed that the funds had been sent to the Treasury as my company was deemed to have been dissolved, and that it was up to me to recover them. My company is registered in Cornwall, however, and the Treasury told me the funds would therefore have gone to the Duchy of Cornwall.
The Duchy confirmed it had the funds, but said I would have to reinstate the company with Companies House and pay a £234 fee to the duchy’s solicitors to claim them.
I explained that Lloyds had sent the money in error. I was then told that if the bank confirmed this, the money could be returned. That was in April. Since then I have called or emailed Lloyds once a week and have still not been refunded.
I’m struggling to pay business bills and therefore, five months after my account was closed, I asked Lloyds for an interest-free loan to tide me over until the funds arrive. It refused.
CW, Liskeard
Limited companies wanting to change to sole trader status must first be dissolved and the funds transferred to a new account within 60 days. Any money remaining in the original account after 60 days enriches the Treasury, or in the case of Cornish companies, the Duchy of Cornwall, a private estate which funds the Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall. That, of course, is a story in itself.
You had duly complied with the 60-day deadline and Lloyds admitted to me that the business funds had erroneously been removed from your new account and sent to the duchy. It also sent you on a wild goose chase by mistakenly telling you the Treasury had them.
Disgracefully, it managed to speed the funds to your account four days after I demanded answers and nearly two months after it last assured you they were on their way.
The bank had stumped up from its own coffers, having belatedly decided it was unreasonable to keep you waiting while it applied to the duchy. It blamed the delays on an “administrative error” and congratulated itself on sending you £350 in compensation last April.
The mindblowing aspect of this is that not once did any sentient agent stop to consider the impact this would be having on you, and ensure the errors were rectified.
It has paid you a further £150 in compensation and £899.14 to reflect the interest lost. It says: “We have apologised for the mistakes and are sorry for the time taken to resolve them; on this occasion, our service levels have not met the high standards we expect to give our customers.”
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